WEBVTT MEDICAL EDITOR DR. COREY HEBERTHAS THE SOBERING FACTSON BINGE DRINKING.Alcohol is a part of manypeople's lives, but did you knowthat morethan 18 percent of Americansface real problems with it, frombinge drinkingto alcoholism. Have you crossedthe line into alcohol abuse?Well with schoolabout to start, I think we needto visit this concept veryseriously.Binge drinking is pervasivecommon among 18 to21-year-olds... and ifyou're in college or have beento college, chances are thatyou'vedone it before. So what does itmean to binge drink, anyway?There iscurrently no internationalconsensus on how many drinksconstitute a 'binge,' but theterm is often taken to mean thefollowing: for a man, consuming5 or more standard drinks, or 4or more drinks for a woman,in about 1 to 3 hours. However,these numbers vary significantlybasedon weight and numerous othervariables. Binge drinking isprevalent on almost everycollege campus, and is oftenincorporatedinto many college activities,from sporting events to partiesand randomlonely restless nights away fromhome. Unfortunately,people who binge drink on aregular basis often suffernegativeconsequences as a result, likemissed classes, poor grades, ortroublewith the police. As well,regular binge drinkers areconsiderably morelikely to drive drunk or to haveunprotected sex -activities thathavesome potential consequences oftheir own. Here is anothersoberingstatistic: each year 1,400college students die fromalcohol poisoningassociated with binge drinking.The best defense against theconsequences of binge drinkingis obvious - don't binge drink,it isNEVER acceptable behavior.However, many people won't makethat choice toabstain totally from alcoholbecause they want to drink as apart of theircollege experience. If you areamong them, you can make yourexperiencesafer by alternating youralcoholic drinks with water orlow sugar sportsdrinks. This will help slow therate at which you absorb thealcohol intoyour blood stream. And eatingsomething with a bit of fatbefore youstart drinking-like a grilledcheese or a slice of pizza-willhelp you metabolizealcohol at a slower, morecontrolled rate. You can alsoreduce the chancesof unintended consequences bymaking sure that someone in yourgroup does not drink AT ALL tokeep track of everyone else.Bottom line? 70-percent ofcollege students admit to bingedrinking atleast once a week. So parentsplease have this difficultconversation withyour child before you send themoff to that university. Thattalk may just save their life.Im medical editor dr coreyhebert with your weekendhouse call.